In general, in a transportation means such as an aircraft and a motor-coach, seats seated by passengers are secured in advance. For this reason, an operating company operating the transportation means has a business limitation in which the operating company must sell boarding tickets and passenger tickets to customers to correspond to the predetermined number of seats.
However, in the transportation means such as an aircraft and a motor-coach, in a case in which the distance between seats in a front-and-rear direction can be changed in accordance with a load factor, more diversified services can be offered. For example, in a case in which the load factor is high, the distance between seats in the front-and-rear direction is shortened so that more passengers may use the transportation means to enable the number of passengers accommodated by one aircraft or one motor-coach to be increased. Consequently, in a peak season in which a transportation demand increases, passengers who would move on to other transportation means in a usual case can be acquired. Also, for example, in a case in which the load factor is low, the distance between seats in the front-and-rear direction is increased to enable seats improved in comfort to be prepared. Thus, even in an off-season in which the transportation demand decreases, a unit price per passenger can be raised by improving the value of the seat. In this manner, in the conventional transportation means, desired is a seat moving/securing device enabling an optimal service to be offered in accordance with various circumstances by shortening the distance between seats seated by passengers in the front-and-rear direction or increasing the distance between seats in the front-and-rear direction.
As literature disclosing the contents relating to the technique of this kind, Patent Literature 1 described below exists, for example. In Patent Literature 1 described below, a method for moving a seat to be used to move a seat in an aircraft is disclosed.